Last night, I taught my forged metal bracelet class for the first time at
Gifts of Avalon. This was a brand new class, which is tough for me sometimes because I never know if people are going to want to come and learn a new technique or not. (The woman at the far left in this picture, Claudia is actually responsible for pushing me to come up with new classes! Her partner in crime, Judy, couldn't make last night's class).
This was a large class of seven students. Sometimes they can get a little crazy for me as I try to make sure everyone is being tended to, but this class had some great chemistry and they were really focused! I wish I could play a sound track for this class. They all had to hammer bracelets and it sounded just like what I'm guessing it does in Santa's workshop during the month of December. Lots of dinging and hammering!
I wanted to share the finished projects everyone got done. Most of the class had no metalsmithing or jewelry making experience, but everyone had a new bracelet in under three hours (some even a little faster)! This bracelet is made from sterling silver. Chris, one of my class regulars, gave a shiny, mirror, polish.
These bracelets were done by Rebeccah (below) and Christine (right). They made both of their bracelets from copper. I showed them how to finish their bracelets by applying heat with a torch. They got some beautiful pinks, blues, and touch of gold color on their bracelets.
Chuck was my only guy in the class. He was kind enough to come and make his wife a bracelet. (Is that dreamy or what??). Chuck finished his bracelet with a matte finish using steel wool and liver of sulfur to highlight the details.
Remember Claudia from earlier in the post? This is her bracelet. She said was HOOKED on making these and wanted to make one for her daughter. We also talked about what she wants to me to teach next. *wink*
JoAnn also took the class but managed to sneak away before I could get her bracelet photographed. (Probably was so good she didn't want to put me to shame.)
The last two bracelets are from Trude (copper one on the left) and Susan (sterling silver one on the right). Both turned out great and Trude completely amazed me by putting her own flair to her bracelet. (By the way, Trude is one of the shop owners and is always happy to help customers.)
Wow! It was a great night!! There were several people on the waiting list for this class, so I will be running it again in early July. You can
contact Gifts of Avalon now to get on the waiting list.
